St John's in the Vale and High Rigg

The past six months I have been trying to live a bit healthier i.e, watching what I eat and drink and this has led me to getting up earlier and consequently getting out earlier. I never used to set off out until about eleven and I really used to miss a beautiful part of the day with the light being much better and it being much fresher. As I mainly go walking to get a way from the everyday hustle and bustle of life, the fact that there are less people there are is another added bonus although I do like to stop and have a natter with people I meet but I like it to be on my terms and not theirs.

There are a myriad of paths going up High Rigg and all, more or less, start from the Youth Outdoor Activity Centre which is just a few yards from St John's in the Vale Church. As it wasn't a Sunday, I fortunately managed to get a parking spot in the small car park.

The usual path up High Rigg is very steep in places and can just turn in to a slog so I carried on the main track a few hundred yards to take a gentler path which just meanders up the fell and brings you out just a few yards from the summit. After all, fell walking isn't a race it is to be savoured and enjoyed. The views all the way are fabulous but mainly behind so there are plenty of opportunities to stop and have a breather. The views back across to Skiddaw and Blencathra are particularly good, as is the one across to The North Western Fells.

I didn't see a person at all on my ascent and I bet I was at the summit a good half hour before the first person arrived; a young lady with her dog. Then there was a steady stream of people arriving and most were also accompanied by a dog! I suppose that, because the fell is only of diminutive size, it is an easy ascent to do with your pet dog.

One local chap, who was working the afternoon shift was getting a walk in before it started. He turned up with one of the scruffiest, most adorable dogs I have seen in ages. We talked life, dogs and about the fells we could see and in particular one to the far west which neither of us could name. I have an app on my phone which is supposedly for that specific reason but it failed miserably. I pointed it westwards and it named the fells to the North; a huge failure!

I had wanted to take some photos looking across to the Helvellyn Fells but the sun wasn't in the right position. I wandered around the extensive top of the fell for a while with the hope that it would move across but, at this time of year, the sun is high and is directly above you most of the middle part of the day. This ain't good for photos.

I returned back to the summit and took a few more photos before heading back down. Once at the Activity Centre I took the bridleway down in to the valley just to lengthen my walk and then returned back up to St John's Church where I had my lunch. The present building dates from 1845 though there has been a church on the site for much longer. Although located in an isolated spot, the road which passes the church was once an important way, it is part of a track which still leads from Matterdale which is over Ullswater way to Wanthwaite and then on to the Naddle Valley where, at one time I suppose, carried on to Keswick.

The walk was good, the people I met were good and my egg sarnies were good. What more could a man wish for?